What happened at the Comics Translation Workshop at Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki?

On Friday, 9 March 2018, Goethe-Institut Thessalonikiopened the doors of its Library and invited us to join the wonderful world of comics translation.

We started with comics theory, reviewed its history and discussed its characteristics. Then, we familiarized ourselves with the technique of lettering and had the chance to proceed some pages live in a digital format.

Finally, we moved from theory to practice. The participants translated in small groups some pages of the comic “Schöne Töchter” by FLIX (Carlsen publishing house) from German into Greek.

Afterwards, they had the opportunity to present and compare their translations, as well as to discuss the challenges of translating comics (cultural elements, humour, idioms, onomatopoetic, limited space). We discussed, for example, about the sound of a little bell ringing or the way German food should be translated into Greek.

With would like to thank Goethe-Institut Thessalonikiand Mrs. Ute Petkakis, Head Librarian, for her valuable help in organising the event, as well as all the participants for their interest and enthusiasm.